gombeen

[gom-been]

noun

Irish English.

1. usury.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gombeen¹

1860–65; < Irish gaimbín interest, especially exorbitant interest, literally, bit, small piece, diminutive of gamba lump, hunk

Example Sentences

Sports pundit Jarlath Burns said the use of "Gombeen Irish" had no place in the GAA.

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Gombeen′man, a grasping and usurious money-lender in Ireland.

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I slackened and saw them drop into the road and there remain, mystified, no doubt, by the astonishing variety of scents, from goat to gombeen man, that presented themselves.

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We passed Stephen Casey and the gombeen man cornering the disputed calves in the sympathetic accord that such an operation demands.

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They disliked him, and he was an upstart and a gombeen man and a usurper, and such foolishness, in the mouths of every one of them.

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